The Four Stages of Cruelty - Plate 4: 1751

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The Four Stages of Cruelty - Plate 4. The scene perhaps takes place in the Cutlerian theatre of the Royal College of Physicians, or to the Surgeons Hall. Nero's corpse is here being dissected. The rope is still around his neck and a dog is licking his heart on the floor. From the 'Works of William Hogarth' from the original plates restored by James Heath published in 1822.